Isak Lindenauer, left, and Allan Baird display a mock-up for the proposed Rainbow Honor Walk plaques to be installed on Castro sidewalks. Photo by Rick Gerharter

The Board of Supervisors’ City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee is expected to vote Monday, March 8 on a project that would create a walk of fame for LGBT historical figures in the Castro district.

[UPDATE: The committee unanimously passed the proposal, which still needs to be voted on by the city’s arts commission and the full Board of Supervisors.]

Dubbed the Rainbow Honor Walk, the project envisions laying rainbow-colored plaques inscribed with the names of famous LGBT figures with some connection to the city’s gayborhood or LGBT community into the sidewalks on Castro and Market Streets as well as several side streets.

The project is the brainchild of storeowner Isak Lindenauer, who has been pushing for approval of the gay stepping stones to history since March of last year, when the Bay Area Reporter first wrote about the project. Since then he has convinced both the Castro merchants group and community benefit district to back the project and has teamed up with David Perry, a Castro resident who owns his own PR firm.

“We want to show the richness and diversity of LGBT people by placing their names on plaques in the sidewalks of the Castro community. We hope to educate and bring pride, as well as added commerce, to our streets,” write Lindenauer and Perry in a prospectus explaining their idea.

Since the city has also signed on to the project, which has the backing of District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty, is is expected to win approval. The final costs for buying and installing the plaques has yet to be raised, and there is no clear timeline for when the first one – expected to bear the name of gay icon the late Supervisor Harvey Milk – would be installed.

The project backers intend to seek the public’s input on which figures in LGBT history to include. The plan is to roll out the plaques in groups, with the first 20 to go in on both sides of Castro Street, followed by another 10 along 19th Street in front of the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy.

Another set of plaques, anywhere from 10 to 20, would be installed on 18th Street, with a final batch of up to 20 on Market Street.

For more info, email raiinbowhonorwalk@gmail.com.

The meeting takes place at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 8 at Room 250 inside City Hall.